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NFL Expert Picks Week 16: Who they like in Steelers vs. Ravens

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens will be playing for the AFC North crown Sunday, and football experts weigh in on the big game with their weekly picks.

NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a hot team right now. They’ve won five games in a row, with four of those coming on the road. Now they return to the friendly confines of Heinz Field, but the Baltimore Ravens are playing good football as well. In fact, Baltimore has won three of their last five games, and is looking, not just to end the Steelers’ winning streak, but to put a major dent in their postseason plans.

Trying to figure out which team will leave this Christmas Day matchup victorious isn’t easy, but Las Vegas is favoring the Steelers in this game. The opening line for this game had the Steelers as 4.5-point favorites, but some books have seen that spread increase to six points. The point of these spreads is to move money, but they clearly think the Steelers will be the one with the lead when all is said and done.

Vegas might be leaning towards the Black and Gold, but what about those NFL experts who submit weekly picks? Who are they taking?

If you’re a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, there are a few websites which are painted black and gold with their selections. All of the experts at both CBS Sports and ESPN have the Steelers winning. All of them.

However, this wasn’t a clean sweep for the Black and Gold. The experts are FOX Sports were the most Raven-friendly, with two of their five experts picking Baltimore to leave Heinz Field victorious on Sunday. Surprisingly, the experts here at SB Nation were very pro-Steelers, but Joel Thorman (a KC Chiefs fan) is the lone soul taking the Ravens in this AFC North grudge match.

These are just four websites who log weekly NFL expert picks. What about those other sites who submit weekly picks? This is where our friends at NFL Pick Watch come in and help. NFL Pick Watch is a website which takes every NFL expert pick across the internet, and logs them into one easy-to-read chart. In what might come as a surprise to many, 94-percent of experts are taking the Steelers in Week 16 to clinch the AFC North and punch their ticket to the playoffs.

Vegas likes the red-hot Steelers. The experts think they will keep rolling, but only time will tell whether they can live up to the hype, or fall flat on their faces in prime time.